Hoboken Almanac - Walter Trego

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Walter Trego - May, 2002

Nine years and 28 days after Nick Ut snapped the world famous picture of a 9 year old Kim Phuc running from a billowing cloud of fire and napalm, I was born. Born in a small town is Ohio by the name of Shelby. Being raised in a town full of veteran and American pride, I was surprised that I never realized exactly what the Vietnam War was.

On April 23, 2002, I decided to travel from my residence in Pittsburgh, PA, where I attend school, to Morgantown, WV. I knew why I was going there but I had no idea what I was about to learn. The pamphlet said very clearly what it was "Faces of War: Pictures that won hearts and changed history, with Eddie Adams, Nick Ut & Kim Phuc." In my opinion it should have read "Come, this will change the way you think."

I was lucky, I arrived early enough that I could get the front row center seat. I figured that I could shoot a few pictures to take back to my News Photography class to see if I could manage a little extra credit. As Eddie Adams spoke I managed to listen, take a few pictures and become emotionally moved. When I put my camera down he began to speak about a subject you could tell he was uncomfortable talking about. "According to the US Army the bullet was in his head at the 1/125th of a second I took the picture." He was talking about the picture he took in 1968 of Vietnamese Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Viet Cong lieutenant at pointblank range. He said that although the photograph won him the Pulitzer Prize it was not one he was particularly proud of. Here he was winning awards because he watched a man die. At one point he said he contemplated giving the Pulitzer back, but was talked out of it by his colleagues at the AP.

I was shocked to see Mr. Adams wipe his eye as if he were wiping away a tear. Of all the times I looked at that picture in school books, old magazines and microfiche at the library I had never thought about who took the picture, let alone how it affected them. The thought of how selfish I had been in my viewing of this picture made me feel a little upset with myself.

After Mr. Adams concluded his portion of the "show" Nick Ut began to speak. Mr. Ut doesn't know it, but his picture of Kim Phuc has caused me to have nightmares ever since the first time I saw it. In my dream every thing seems even more real than that of what's in the picture, I can smell the napalm, a smell I have never even experienced before. Unfortunately, Nick Ut does not speak very clear English. I could not understand most of the words he spoke but occasionally I would hear a Sigon or America. As with any great photojournalist, his images spoke every language perfectly. As a special treat accompanying Nick, was "the girl from the picture."

Kim Phuc spoke of her escaping death and later of escaping a communist government. She spoke of the ways the "picture" had effected her and the resentment she once had for Nick Ut taking it. As she ended her time, I had one of those moments where you know that you are following the correct path. This feeling was reassuring me of my choice to peruse photojournalism as a career. Ms. Phuc held her arm out a slowly drew her sleeve back to reveal her horribly scarred arm. I could feel my late lunch slowly working its way back up. I don't know how but I managed to keep it where it belonged. My life had been changed.

Within two hours three complete strangers changed the way I think. There now were faces that went with the images and beyond. Information that had never been processed was being overwhelmingly processed.

Jason Phillips
a.k.a. Walter Trego Jr.
May, 2002

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